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University System of Georgia chancellor stresses need for collaboration with other state education departments during the final

Stephen Berend

University System of Georgia Chancellor Erroll B. Davis shares a light moment with Lydia McKinley-Floyd, associate dean for the college of business at Savannah State, during a reception for Davis in SSU's student center on Friday. McKinley-Floyd said she feels a special connection to the chancellor since they are both University of Chicago alumni.

University System of Georgia Chancellor Erroll B. Davis Jr., visited Savannah State University and the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography Friday, the final stop on a tour of the state's public colleges and universities.

Davis, a Pittsburgh native and former board chairman of Alliant Energy Corp.,began work as university system chancellor in February. Almost immediately, he embarked on the tour to help acquaint him with the 35 college campuses and some of the system's 253,500 students and 35,000 faculty and staff.

His visits have involved meetings with faculty, staff, administration and students as well as campus tours.

"We've had a good and productive day," Savannah State University President Carlton Brownsaid of Davis' visit to his campus. "He has had visits with our faculty, staff and cabinet and we shared some of our challenges and some of our successes."

Now that Davis has had a chance to gain more intimate details about each institution and their individual issues, he said he is working to crystallize his vision for overcoming past obstacles and achieve systemic excellence.

"We have incredible pockets of excellence in the university system, including this institution," Davis said during his SSU visit. "But we need to leverage that excellence as a system."

And though he's only begun to map out a plan of action, it is already clear that the plan must involve stronger collaboration and planning with the Georgia Department of Education and the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education.

"We need to work a lot more closely with the K-12 system to set standards and share what we know."

New strategies to share resources and expertise between the University System and the K-12 education system will help raise student academic expectations and outcomes early. When the state's educators figure out how to systemically pool their resources to prepare young minds, Georgia will see an end to the need for multi-million dollar remedial education programs for freshman college students, Davis said.

Davis said he would also like to ensure the public is aware of all that the university system has to offer the community, like the large amount of sponsored research being conducted at institutions like Savannah State.

"It's our job to make sure the excellence of this system is known," he said.

Then he set out for a SSU-Armstrong Atlantic State University sponsored reception with area officials, university system alumni, business leaders and students to help spread the word.

"I'm not done," Davis said."I will continue my discussions with legislators, campus and community leaders."